The heavy duty tarps with silver on one side and white on the other completely blocks out the sun. On the other hand, the mesh tarps allow wind to pass through. My shade structure is of the flat roof variety. It is 1" EMT, and is gusseted. I cannot seem to find aluminet in standard cut sizes at affordable prices. I am standing under two layers of 70% black shade mesh suspended 8 feet above me, and I still feel hot. Not as hot as in the sun of course. The direct sun is 120 degrees and it is 100 degrees under the mesh. Am I hoping for too much? Lastly, did you feel more favorable toward Pee Wee Herman after he did that dance at the biker bar?

Personally, I'm all about hard shade. We use 14mil HD silver tarp on our structure. There are camp mates who bring shade material to tie from our structure to their RV's but they don't have much of a frame.

1" EMT is not much of a frame for tarps. I would not have much confidence in that frame with polytarps.

Packoderm wrote:The heavy duty tarps with silver on one side and white on the other completely blocks out the sun. On the other hand, the mesh tarps allow wind to pass through. My shade structure is of the flat roof variety. It is 1" EMT, and is gusseted. I cannot seem to find aluminet in standard cut sizes at affordable prices. I am standing under two layers of 70% black shade mesh suspended 8 feet above me, and I still feel hot. Not as hot as in the sun of course. The direct sun is 120 degrees and it is 100 degrees under the mesh. Am I hoping for too much? Lastly, did you feel more favorable toward Pee Wee Herman after he did that dance at the biker bar?

I think shade cloth in other colors than black feel cooler underneath. It seems to me that the black cloth radiates as heat more of the energy it intercepts. Just my unscientific thoughts on the matter. Last year we found it necessary to augment the shade cloth with a tarp on the hottest day. Might be something there in just going with the tarp....a horrible thing for a die hard shade fan to say..

Pee Wee Herman does not bother me. He was good in Blow.

Black Rock City Welding and Repair. The Night Time Warming Station.

Card Carrying Member BRCCP.

When you pass the 4th "bridge out!" sign; the flaming death is all yours.-Knowmad-

I'm in the process of experimenting with the shade. I now have a blue and white striped shade mesh tarp over a black mesh. It measures 98 degrees under both the shade canopy and under the patio of my house (total shade). According to the weather site, it is 92 degrees with 35% humidity. I'm committed to making the coolest shade structure possible, and I'll do what it takes - hopefully without going broke.

Last year, I remember the heat getting trapped under the red and yellow poly tarps. Maybe the silver tarps that totally block the sun's rays are better for this. I'll get a silver tarp to experiment. I think the mesh would be safer in a wind storm however. I do plan on using mesh for side walls.

I felt that after the bikers accepted him as one of their own, Pee Wee accomplished a redemption of himself to that of the masculine male model.

I can picture the scene: There is the sound of strong wind and then the sound of crashing glass followed by a loud scream in the distance. Still seated with a beer in our hands, somebody mutters, "Yep, there went another one."

I have used various mixes of tarps and shade fabric. I do love the complete blackout with the tarp, but after some scary windstorms, I now lean towards shade fabric. If you have a small setup or a nice support lattice/structure, tarps can be a great way to keep cool if ventilation is thought about and the tarps block out 99.999% of the light.

motskyroonmatick wrote:I think shade cloth in other colors than black feel cooler underneath. It seems to me that the black cloth radiates as heat more of the energy it intercepts. Just my unscientific thoughts on the matter. Last year we found it necessary to augment the shade cloth with a tarp on the hottest day. Might be something there in just going with the tarp....a horrible thing for a die hard shade fan to say..

Your intuition is correct. The black material probably has a higher emissivity which is the property of a material to emit absorbed radiation. The property also affects how the material absorbs the radiation as well. A white shade cloth, with a lower emissivity would better reflect light that it is not supposed to penetrate it, whereas the black material will absorb that light and radiate it, and not necessarily back towards where it came from.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

Military camo has worked incredibly well for me for 11 burns. I double layer it, as the stuff is famous for having gaps. I suspend it from wire, 4 eight foot 2x4 posts (yes, 2x4's), rectangle size 30 feet x 18 feet. Three sides are shaded.

The stuff is a little moopy, and a pain in the ass to suspend because I never dust or wash the stuff after each burn. Also, it doesn't store near as efficiently as shade cloth or tarps.

However, the wind passes thru much better than with shade cloth, and the patterns of light/shadow on the tent are great.

It also SOUNDS good.

I do notice it's getting more expensive. I haven't seen a REAL army navy store for years, and the crap at make believe "outdoor" stores sucks. Try:

DoctorIknow wrote:Military camo has worked incredibly well for me for 11 burns. I double layer it, as the stuff is famous for having gaps. I suspend it from wire, 4 eight foot 2x4 posts (yes, 2x4's), rectangle size 30 feet x 18 feet. Three sides are shaded.

The stuff is a little moopy, and a pain in the ass to suspend because I never dust or wash the stuff after each burn. Also, it doesn't store near as efficiently as shade cloth or tarps.

However, the wind passes thru much better than with shade cloth, and the patterns of light/shadow on the tent are great.

It also SOUNDS good.

I do notice it's getting more expensive. I haven't seen a REAL army navy store for years, and the crap at make believe "outdoor" stores sucks. Try:

Thank you guys, I feel a lot better about my aluminet now. I read so much about needing to block 100% of the light, getting a dust bath every time I touch the stuff etc that I was really getting worried. But I didn't have a choice, really, since I don't have the size or strength to wrestle with a solid tarp and, fuck needing help from the get-go, for real.

So it is very nice to know that incomplete and breezy shade can be effective. Seriously, I will sleep better now.

motskyroonmatick wrote:I think shade cloth in other colors than black feel cooler underneath. It seems to me that the black cloth radiates as heat more of the energy it intercepts. Just my unscientific thoughts on the matter. Last year we found it necessary to augment the shade cloth with a tarp on the hottest day. Might be something there in just going with the tarp....a horrible thing for a die hard shade fan to say..

Your intuition is correct. The black material probably has a higher emissivity which is the property of a material to emit absorbed radiation. The property also affects how the material absorbs the radiation as well. A white shade cloth, with a lower emissivity would better reflect light that it is not supposed to penetrate it, whereas the black material will absorb that light and radiate it, and not necessarily back towards where it came from.

WOHOO! YES!!!!! (fist pump)

Black Rock City Welding and Repair. The Night Time Warming Station.

Card Carrying Member BRCCP.

When you pass the 4th "bridge out!" sign; the flaming death is all yours.-Knowmad-

[quote]A use for all those useless left over CD's! Thank you Thank you! How did they attach them?[/quote]

However they did it, I would bet money that at one point during the labor, they wished they'd gone a different direction. Making individual panels of ANY material for a dome is very time consuming. Even worse is making a cover that is wind, water, sun resistant, and on top of that, make ventilation possible.